Lacy Bridge Box Beam

[Anonymous]

Alright MRR brain trust, here is a tough one. Is there an easy way to fabricate bridge box beams....? those lacy girders found on kits like Central Valley's Thru Truss bridge. Yes I know you can buy the CV beams only for scratch building, but if you are building a bridge of significant size the qty of CV beams gets expensive fast. I know I'm probably dreaming that there is, then again what does it mean when a guy gets to the age when his thoughts are on lacy beams instead of lacy nighties.....[^]

[Anonymous]

Steam Engine,

Well, I have good news and bad news . . .

I model in HO, and if you want the detail provided in the CV beams, that is the only way I know of to do that. You may want to do a search on a company called Three Brothers. They make some bridge detail parts and may have something like what you are looking for.

But if you can accept less detail, Paul Mallory <sp?> gives a method in his book about model railroad bridges (published by Carstens) where you cut a lacing pattern from stiff paper and use that. With care, I think that would look OK, but not what you will get from the CV beams. In this case you can save a big pile of money if you are willing to make the compromise.

Another thing I am doing to save money on a long steel trestle is to glue a package of 50 ft span plate girders to the near side of a 1x4 piece of wood. The other girders are just pieces of wood glued to the 1x4 at other offsets. By only detailing the nearest side of the bridge, I save money on the other girder lines, the cross frames and the lateral bracing.

If you come up with a discount supply for lacy girders, I would like to know as well. Good Luck - Ed

[ndbprr]

I just saw some etched brass ones at the hobby shop Saturday that were $6.50 each. If you had a pattern you could probably get some etched in quantity cheaper but I have no feel for how much or what quantity.